SAN FRANCISCO – A San Francisco Muslim police officer has filed a formal complaint detailing “blatant racism and bigotry” he had witnessed at the Central Police Station from colleague officers and superiors since last summer.
“Since making the complaint, I have been labeled a rat, singled out by my colleagues, and I now fear for my safety,” the Muslim Afghan officer, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, told San Francisco Examiner on Tuesday during a news conference.
Part of the horrible experiences he has gone through includes an Islamophobic colleague officer telling him: “When your family members come out here as an active shooter or ram a car, I’d appreciate it if you give me a heads up so I can put them down gently.”
Another officer told him: “I would appreciate it if you tell me the plans of your terrorist network so I can plan in advance.”
He was also asked whether he knew any “towel heads”, to having an ISIS flag drawn on his locker near the words “go back to your country.”
The Muslim cop decided to state the incidents publicly last January after allegedly facing retaliation for complaining to his department’s Internal Affairs in November 2017 and losing faith in the process, especially after discovering that the Internal Affairs investigators had shared confidential information he brought to them with those he accused of harassment.
He began working for the city force in June 2016 after graduating from San Francisco’s Police Academy. A year later, he completed field training and was assigned to Central Station. Then shortly, within a month he was being harassed.
Awaited Reactions
The Muslim officer said he maintains hope “to change the department’s long, documented history of intimidating whistleblowers.”
In his complaint to the Department of Human resources, the officer’s proposed remedy was that the officers involved receive cultural sensitivity training and that the police department academy teach cultural studies about the Islamic World.
Only on Tuesday, San Francisco Police Department responded to the allegations in a statement, saying that they are inspecting them “very seriously” and that “we were made aware of these allegations in November 2017 and immediately initiated an investigation. Three investigations into the claims by the police department and Department of Human Resources are currently ongoing.”
The statement read: “San Francisco Police Department will thoroughly investigate all alleged misconduct uncovered during these investigations which implicates any member of this department.”